Orchard business planning

June 2012 | Prepared and presented by Ross Wilson, AgFirst | Future Orchards® Orchard Walk notes and presentation

A clear business plan can help orchard businesses define where they are now, where they want to go and how they intend to get there. In this Future Orchards® resource, Ross Wilson of AgFirst introduces a practical business planning approach developed specifically for fruit growers and explains why structured planning is increasingly important as orchard businesses become larger, more complex and more financially demanding.

The Orchard Walk notes outline the purpose of business planning within the Future Orchards® Focus Orchard program, where growers, advisers and consultants worked together to identify business objectives and demonstrate best-practice techniques. Ross explains that a business plan should capture the direction of the orchard, involve key stakeholders and provide a shared framework for decision-making rather than leaving important goals and strategies solely in the heads of family members or managers.

The accompanying presentation expands on this process using a practical orchard business planning example. It covers vision statements, SMART objectives, tactics, budgets and key performance indicators, including labour costs, cash flow, profitability, block performance, soil and plant moisture, pest and disease management and fruit size. The presentation also demonstrates how long-term goals such as variety changes, redevelopment, machinery investment and productivity improvements can be translated into measurable actions and timelines.

Together, these resources provide growers with a straightforward framework for stepping away from day-to-day orchard operations and taking a more strategic view of their business. The emphasis is on developing a succinct, practical plan that involves the right people, sets clear objectives and provides a basis for tracking progress over time.